Manual plugin installation

If you are having problems with the automatic WordPress plugin installer, you will have to upload plugins manually. It isn’t as difficult as you might suspect.

Download the plugin

Download the plugin zip file to your computer and unzip the file to reveal a folder containing the plugin files. You can find many plugins in the WordPress plugin directory if you do not already have the plugin you need.

Upload the plugin folder

Then, using an FTP program, navigate into your blog’s installation folder and into the “wp-content” folder found inside. Within this folder is the “plugins” folder where your plugin will be uploaded.

Once you have navigated into the plugins folder, drag the entire plugin folder you just downloaded and unzipped — right into the “plugins” folder.

Find the plugin in WordPress

Once you’ve uploaded the plugin folder into the plugins directory on the web server, you will be able to go to the “Plugins” page of your WordPress admin area and activate the plugin and begin using it.